Mary Frances Berry: We Need a ‘Reparations Superfund’

The New York Times ^ | June 8, 2014 | Professor Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

[2ndDivisionVet]

In 1887, ex-slaves began petitioning the federal government for pensions and compensation for the years they had labored without wages before abolition. When Congress ignored their thousands of petitions, they tried to sue for wage theft but were told they could not. At the very least, the descendants of the tens of thousands of members of the Ex-Slave Pension and Bounty movement – whose membership forms stated the number of years they had been working as slaves, along with the names of their slave owners and the plantations on which they lived – should be eligible for reparations. Other individuals who can prove the identity of slave ancestors, whether they sought reparations in the 19th century or not, could also be eligible.

Reparations for unpaid labor are restitution, payment for damages to make whole for harm done. No restrictions should be made on how the money is spent. If their ancestors had received wages for their labor they too would have bought what they wanted, invested it as they desired, or given it to churches or schools or charities.

Beyond reparations to individuals, there should be a “Reparations Superfund” as historian V.P. Franklin suggests...

[Savage Beast]

Thanks. The first one was interesting.

[Thermalseeker]

I have Irish family members who were sold into slavery. While doing genealogy research I found numerous records of more than a dozen of my Irish ancestors who were enslaved, both as children and adults. Thus far, I have found death records, but no evidence whatsoever that any were ever freed. My most recent ancestor who came here as an indentured servant was my grandmother who arrived in 1913. She worked as a maid for 6 years, receiving only room and board as compensation. Her labor was to repay her sponsor. I actually knew her. How many descendants of African slaves can honestly say they knew a relative who was an indentured servant?

[Savage Beast]

I like this one better. It gives some of the same facts, but the author is named. I always value information that is referenced and tend to suspect that for which no author is referenced.

This is one of the most convincing points made by Matt Drudge in his classic address to the National Press Club. During the Question-and-Answer session, one of the club members sent him a question but refused to identify himself--to which Matt responded that he places his name on everything that he publishes--shaming the so-called "journalists" of the National Press Club and revealing, in the bright light of truth, their low standards.

[maine-iac7]

I’d vote for reparations - to every single living person who had been a slave.

And a free ticket to every ‘AFRICAN American’ that doesn’t realize that, if not for the slave ancestors, they’d be running around in the African bush or being slaughtered in black on black violence throughout Africa.

In the meantime, how about the admit that it was BLACK tribal leaders in AFrica that brought and SOLD the slaves to the slavers on the coast -

[centurion316]

Indentured servitude is still practiced today, mostly in the middle east, and it was certainly an informal system well into the 20th Century. It was usually tied to the cost of passage. Many people signed agreements to work in exchange for payment of their passage to the New World. In the colonial era that was formalized in records of indenture, many of which still exist in the records. The practice was also certainly abused through failure to release people from their indenture. The same thing happened in the mines, railways, and textile mills (”I owe my soul to the company store”).

But, that was not the institution of slavery. That practice was limited by Western nations to non-christian populations. In the Islamic world, muslims could not be sold into slavery but Christians were fair game.

[Oratam]

bump

[himno hero]

The country Liberia was created and given to them by America in 1840 (?)

[maddog55]

One of many:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076

[vette6387]

Never listen to (or believe in) anyone who is so self-important that they find it necessary to use their middle name. And that goes double if they are a “Holder’s Person.”

[QT3.14]

Legal experts point to the fact that slavery was not illegal in the United States prior to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified in 1865). Thus, there is no legal foundation for compensating the descendants of slaves for the crime against their ancestors when, in strictly legal terms, no crime was committed.

Others point to the fact that the current U.S. government did not exist prior to June 21, 1788 when the United States Constitution was ratified. Therefore, the U.S. government inherited the institution of slavery, and cannot be held legally liable for the enslavement of Africans by Europeans prior to that time. Figuring out who was enslaved by whom in order to fairly apply reparations from the U.S. Government only to those who were enslaved under U.S. laws, would be an impossible task.

The most effective legal argument against reparations for slavery from a legal (as opposed to a moral standpoint) is that the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits has long since passed. Thus, courts are prohibited from granting relief. This has been used effectively in several suits, including "In re African American Slave Descendants", which dismissed a high-profile suit against a number of businesses with ties to slavery.

[driftless2]

Black Americans have been a net drag on the economy costing up to one trillion dollars a year in crime, welfare, and affirmative discrimination incompetents put in positions they’re not qualified for.